A dance party for kids is a popular choice for fans of dancing or movies like High School Musical that feature lots of singing and dancing. A birthday dance party is tons of fun and easy to plan with this party guide! This party can easily be held at home if you clear a space for dancing in the basement, garage or family room.

Dance Party Music

“Kid’s Dance Party” CD’s are a good choice since the lyrics are clean.

Soundtrack from a popular dance movie like High School Musical or Hairspray.

Pop singers like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, or whoever is popular at the moment.

Popular Dance Party Supplies:

Design your dance party invitations to look like a VIP ticket to a dance club, using any word processing software on your computer. Then buy heavy cardstock to print them so the invitations feel like real tickets.

On the day of the party, have an older brother dress as the bouncer and collect the tickets at the door. This was a real hit at my daughter’s dance party!

The most important area to decorate is the dance floor, so spend your time and money in this area. Hang a disco ball from the center of the ceiling, and string clear Christmas lights around the ceiling or floorboards.

Hang lots of large silver stars from the ceiling.

Hang a fringe curtain over the doorway into the dance area. Push all the furniture to the sides of the dance floor. You’ll want some places to sit when the dancers need a break or when they’re eating.

Use clusters of balloons next to the food table, near large furniture, and at the corners of the dance floor. Each cluster should have 5-7 balloons, and you can add one mylar balloon that matches the dance theme.

For a great way to break the ice at the start of the party, which is really helpful if both boys and girls are attending, call your local dance studio. Hire a teenage student to come teach a few simple dances at the beginning of the party, and then start the music and let them go!

Freeze Dance – To play, have all of the kids start dancing when you turn on some music. After a few moments, turn off the sound and say “Freeze!” Anyone still moving is out until the next game begins. You’ll find that as kids drop out, they like to become judges for the rest of the game! Continue playing until only one dancer remains.

Hula hoop contest set to music – You’ll need lots of hula hoops so a big group can compete together. First have everyone begin using the hoops. Then call out different commands like stand on one foot, touch your head, or turn around. Anyone who drops their hula hoop is out. Keep playing until only one person is left and is the winner.

Dance Elimination – All the guests begin dancing and the DJ stops the music and calls out a number. The guests must quickly put themselves into groups of that number, and anyone left without a group is out of the game. Continue dancing and calling out numbers until there are only two dancers left, and they both are the winners.

Dance Floor Prizes - Once the kids are all dancing, stop the music every once in a while to ask a trivia question. The first person with the correct answer gets a glow in the dark necklace (or some other small prize).

Music Video Shoot – Divide your guests into groups, and send each group into a separate room with a CD player and some CDs. Let them choose a song and create their own 30 second “music video” to show to the other groups. Set a time limit for this activity, such as 30 minutes, Have a video camera ready to record their performances! You can also play back the videos on your TV so they can see themselves.

Dance Competition – Make up your own or use a gaming system to play something like Dance, Dance, Revolution.